Cuba is not a threat, the blockade is

On January 29, 2026, the U.S. blockade was escalated to unprecedented levels: the U.S. President signed an Executive Order (EO 14380) authorizing additional tariffs on imports from any country that sold or supplied oil to Cuba, whether directly or indirectly. During the first half of 2026 only a single tanker from the Russian Federation arrived in Cuba, carrying humanitarian aid.

Just days after the January 29, 2026 Executive Order was announced, Cuba's civil aviation authority had to declare the impossibility of supplying aviation fuel (Jet A-1) at Cuban airports. This has had a disastrous effect on tourism in Cuba, reducing the avenues for travelers to enter the country.

This energy blockade amounts to an act of genocide, a form of collective punishment against the Cuban people, and a grave violation of International Law. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits collective punishment, a reality to which the Cuban people are unmistakably being subjected.

As if this were not sufficient punishment, on May 1, 2026 the U.S. government issued another Executive Order (EO 14404). It authorizes the freezing of assets and the restriction of operations of any foreign person or entity operating in sectors considered strategic to the Cuban economy, and imposes stringent secondary sanctions on banks, financial institutions, and foreign enterprises that facilitate transactions involving “sanctioned” individuals or entities.

Payments through Visa and Mastercard became unworkable on the Island as Cuba's correspondent banks declined to continue the relationship due to the risks they faced vis-à-vis the United States. In reality, this means Cuba cannot purchase shipments of food, inputs for pharmaceutical production or machinery, regardless of whether funds are available.

No people deserve nor should be subjected to such punishment solely on account of asserting its right to self determination.

Under Title III of the Helms Burton Act, U.S. courts may hear lawsuits against any individual or company involved with properties nationalized by the Cuban government. Added to this is Cuba's arbitrary inclusion on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, a designation for which the U.S. government has not produced a single evidentiary basis.

In addition to the measures reinforcing the blockade, top officials of the current U.S. administration have made recurrent use of a highly threatening and confrontational narrative against Cuba.

All this is part of a deliberately structured, surgically calibrated, and broadly encompassing siege, which, arguably more explicitly than in previous decades, may foreshadow direct military aggression against Cuban territory.

Despite these adverse circumstances, Cuba has not remained isolated. From governments, parliaments and the African Union to unions, solidarity organizations and citizens within the United States itself, rejection of the blockade was expressed worldwide.

The UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures, Alena Douhan, confirmed during her official visit to Cuba in November 2025 the flagrant, large scale, and systematic violation of human rights in Cuba. On May 11, 2026, the UN Secretary General rejected any military approach and expressed his wish that the Cuban people would not continue to suffer dramatically.

In February 2026, the African Union Assembly approved, for the seventeenth consecutive time, a resolution condemning the U.S. blockade against Cuba, and urged the removal of Cuba from the unilateral list of countries allegedly sponsoring terrorism.

The Cuban people will prevail, for its resilience, creativity, and determination cannot be blocked in any way.